Inside Politics The timing of the leadership row in the PDs stunned the political world because it appeared to come out of a clear blue sky. However, tension has been building for months and the level of bitterness and distrust between Mary Harney and Michael McDowell now runs so deep that there is no guarantee the cracks can be papered over until after the next election.
At the heart of the row is the fact that leading figures in the party had believed for some time that Ms Harney had signalled she would not lead the PDs into the election in 2007.
The decision of Mr McDowell to raise this issue at the parliamentary party meeting on Tuesday brought the crisis to a head, but it did not precipitate it.
By that stage the party had been convulsed by two days of such turbulence that the PDs were in danger of tearing themselves to pieces and destabilising the Government into the bargain.
By midday on Tuesday rumours were in circulation among party members that the two founders were at loggerheads and that things were so bad that one of them might leave the Cabinet.
All of the issues were thrashed out at the parliamentary party meeting on Tuesday night involving deputies, senators and party trustees. The debate was so damaging that all present were sworn to secrecy at the end of the meeting, but The Irish Times has managed to piece together the issues at the heart of the debate through extensive soundings in the party.
The most explosive material was outlined in a letter sent by the party's trustees to Ms Harney last Tuesday. This letter, which was signed by all three of the trustees, was read out at the meeting by the longest serving of them, Paul Mackay, who played a key role in founding the party in 1985.
Its contents were so shocking that the parliamentary party chairman, John Dardis, appealed to those present not to discuss its contents with anybody afterwards.
In their letter the trustees referred to their belief that Ms Harney had intended to step down as party leader before the next election. It proceeded to outline a series of events that began last Saturday when the Tánaiste went to the chairman of the organisation, Peter Wyer, to tell him that she would, after all, be leading the PDs into the next election.
She then met the trustees on Monday night to inform them of her decision. In response they drafted a letter to her outlining the position as the trustees saw it. The letter referred to the "dysfunctional relationship" between Ms Harney and Mr McDowell and said it was damaging to both the party and the country.
Sensationally, the trustees added that Ms Harney had told them on Monday night that she and Mr McDowell could not remain in Cabinet together "for much longer".
The letter asked the Tánaiste for an explanation of that statement and reminded her that she had said she would not be leading the party into the election, and had changed her mind about the timing of her departure on a few occasions.
The letter referred to the fact that the Tánaiste had told Mr Wyer of her change of mind last Saturday, but pointed out that neither the trustees nor Mr McDowell had been told about that decision in advance. They warned her that her decision could make Mr McDowell's position untenable and they added that if he was lost to the party they would resign.
The letter came as the biggest and final shock at the meeting, which had already heard Mr McDowell outline his frustration at the fact that Ms Harney had changed her mind about stepping down as leader before the next election.
The trustees have a much bigger role in the PDs than in other political parties. Paul Mackay was one of the four founders of the party in 1985, along with Des O'Malley, Mary Harney and Michael McDowell. Another trustee, Noirín Slattery, became a party official immediately after its foundation while the third, Brendan Malone, has been a party activist since the early days.
During the debate it was claimed that Ms Harney had set three deadlines for stepping down, but had postponed each one before finally informing Mr Wyer last Saturday and the trustees on Monday that she was not going to depart. These departure dates were not claimed as part of any pact with Mr McDowell when he rejoined the party in January 2002, but were said to have been set during the past year.
It was claimed that Ms Harney had told Mr McDowell and the Galway West TD, Noel Grealish, in the summer of 2005 that she would step down around the time of the party's 20th anniversary last December. Later that date was shifted to some time before the party's annual conference due in April of this year, which was held in Limerick.
However, last March it was claimed the Tánaiste told people that she was putting off the date until she celebrated the 25th anniversary of her election as a TD on June 11th, 1981.
But when that date passed she spoke to Mr Wyer last Saturday and told him she intended to lead the party into the next election after all.
When the news was given to Mr McDowell and the trustees, the internal crisis began. The sequence explains why Mr McDowell chose last Tuesday to raise the leadership issue as it made no sense otherwise, given that he had taken a publicity battering over the statutory rape issue just two weeks earlier and was in a weaker position than at any time since he joined the Cabinet.
Nobody at the meeting disputed that Ms Harney had given some cause for the belief that she would step down before the election, but there was majority support for her continuing on as leader if that is what she wanted to do.
A number of people said it would be madness to have a row about the leadership, while others urged Ms Harney to continue as leader as being the best option for the party in any case.
Although they are all now united behind the decision, the clash between the two PD Ministers has already done serious damage to the party and, in the long term, has the potential to destroy it.